Affordable Battery Technology Key to Solving 90% of Global Energy Issues, Says UI Rector

Professor Rinaldy Dalimi has stated that battery technology is the key to the renewable energy transition, as the unstable nature of new and renewable energy (EBT) is caused by its intermittent properties or fluctuating availability depending on the weather. “If batteries were available and cheap with a small physical size, 90 per cent of the world’s energy problems would be solved,” Rinaldy said in Jakarta on Wednesday, while speaking as a resource person at a discussion titled “Energy Transition is Not a Choice, But a Necessity”.

Prof Rinaldy, who is also the Rector of the University of Indonesia, said that EBT has an unstable nature, where its production follows the weather or seasons. He explained that Indonesia’s current EBT potential is very large, reaching 3,600 gigawatts (GW), encompassing solar, wind, hydro, bioenergy, geothermal, and other sources.

“If batteries were available, the problem would be solved, but they must be cheap. Therefore, while we wait for cheap battery technology with a large storage capacity, that is where the energy transition problem lies for every country,” he said. For this reason, Prof Rinaldy stated that the energy transition does not have to be fast, but must be carried out with careful calculation and the application of capable technology.

Moreover, the current global situation is uncertain due to geopolitical turmoil caused by war, which has resulted in several countries reactivating their fossil fuel energy. Prof Rinaldy added that it is not easy for PLN to follow the rhythm of the environmental sector, which wants coal energy to be phased out, because the impact would be so great. “Because the cost of replacing coal with renewable energy is still expensive,” he said.